A newsletter for internship partner companies, friends, faculty and students

of the College of Business and Economics of Longwood

Summer 2012

Vol 3, Issue 2

Director's Message

The College of Business and Economics has increased the minimum internship credit requirements for graduation from one academic credit (80 hours of work) to two academic credits (160 hours of work).

Previously, only one internship academic credit with a single internship host company was required for graduation. But for experiential learning to be effective, 80 hours of work wasn't enough time. In 80 hours (the equivalent of two 40-hour weeks), students hardly had time to learn where a company's internal facilities were located, much less the opportunity to understand a company's Mission, Vision and Values.

The McGaughy Internship & Professional Development Center and the CBE faculty have partnered to increase the minimum internship requirement for graduation to two academic credits (160 hours). Ambitious students can work an additional 80 hours and receive an additional academic credit for a total of three academic credits (240 hours) with a single internship host company. Students may accumulate up to an additional three academic credits (for a total of six credits) but the second three academic credits must be with a different host company or in a different responsibility with their original host company.

Internships are a unique opportunity for students to experience the real world of work and for host companies to evaluate an intern's ability and passion for their chosen career. With a two credit internship, our students and host internship companies are both going to experience a Win-Win!

Our next issue will be about the creation of a new one credit prerequisite course for all CBE internships - Management 391, Professional Skills Development. With this new one credit required course, and the new two credit internship experience, we will have moved the entire student hands-on learning experience forward significantly - it's all about getting a good job!

William Baxter

Director

McGaughy Internship & Professional Development Center

CBE Internships

Internships are an important educational requirement for all College of Business and Economics students. They are carefully monitored and evaluated for academic credit, ensuring that intentional learning objectives are structured into the experience. In addition, each internship includes opportunities for observation, reflection, evaluation and assessment.

An internship must be at least 160 hours in duration, but may be either a part-time or full-time experience and may be paid or unpaid. Theflexibility of these requirements helps balance the needs of both the student and the internship host company.

Six students received the Outstanding Internship Award at the 2012 Senior Banquet. Selected by the faculty internship supervisors, this award is presented to the student who has completed the most outstanding internship from each concentration.

Northwestern Mutual Financial Network (NMFN) of Richmond was the featured company at a recent McGaughy Center internship seminar. Northwestern Mutual serves the insurance and investment needs of more than three million clients. With $180 billion in assets NMFN is the nation's largest direct provider of individual life insurance and ranks 112 on the Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations. Northwestern Mutual has helped their clients achieve financial security for more than 150 years.

Dale Baake ('08), Financial Representative/College Unit Director, spoke about NMFN's internship program at a recent internship seminar at the College of Business & Economics. Baake stated, "Our internship program gives students a valuable training and real-world experience with a respected financial security company. At NMFN you can make a difference and have a real impact on the lives of others. Our internship program has been highly rated due to its mentorship and career advancement opportunities, intern involvement, and resume enhancement. Other benefits include the chance to develop networking and business relationship skills, flexible work schedule, securities registration, and state licenses for life, health and accident. Compensation for interns is in the same manner as full-time financial representatives. Interning at NMFN is a great opportunity to try out a career as a financial representative. We welcome students to visit our website at www.northwesternmutual.comand apply on line or contact us directly."

Internship Seminar - Company Opportunities

Would you like to promote your company to our students? Students begin the internship process with a compulsory internship seminar where they learn the details and requirements of the program. They are also introduced to a featured company whose representative(s) elaborate on internship opportunities.

During our four Internship Seminars each academic year (two in the spring and two in the fall), we encourage featured companies to present their unique internship opportunities. We further enrich each company's Longwood experience with a full, productive and involved day on campus where they:

are given 15-20 minutes in multiple classes to tell their story to CBE students.

are given 20 minutes (+/-) to tell their story at the beginning of the afternoon Internship Seminar. Typically there is interaction with students at these seminars and company representatives usually leave campus with a number of qualified resumes, both for internships and for post graduation jobs.

go on a student conducted tour of Longwood's Farmville campus (another chance to interact with students).

have the benefit of an informal lunch with the business school's student leadership and selected faculty.

If your company offers internships and would like to participate in one of our seminars, we'd like to hear from you.

From Intern to Employee - Courtney Thompson

Courtney Thompson

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Internship

Founded in 1957, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an internationally recognized brand with more than 6,000 neighborhood and airport locations in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Ireland and Germany. Known for exceptionally low rates and outstanding customer service, Enterprise has built the largest car rental brand in North America.

The management internship program that I was a part of at Enterprise allowed me to experience what is involved in running a business. I was able to help with many background issues that are dealt with every day in order for a business to run smoothly. As a management trainee intern, my responsibilities were the same as everyone else's. I not only rented the cars, but also washed them and read all of the daily reports.

Enterprise has an ongoing marketing project in which I was able to participate. The marketing project is Enterprise's way of gaining new corporate accounts and maintaining current accounts. While working on the marketing project, I visited existing corporate accounts and met with the executives. For new corporate accounts, I met with the company manager or insurance adjuster, left my business card, and invited them to send customers to Enterprise. Keeping a large "friend" base in a business leads to more revenue.

Enterprise is a great company for an internship because it provides a fast-paced and fun environment for working. I was part of an "internship group" from the beginning. This is a group with which you train, build friendships, and become part of a team. I liked being part of this group because it gave me the opportunity to learn and grow. What I enjoyed most about my internship was that you never stopped learning. Enterprise encouraged you to ask questions because somewhere along the way, you're going to come across something you have never had to deal with before.

Enterprise is a customer service and sales oriented company. During my internship, I won the Enterprise Service Quality Index (ESQI) MVP twice. This award is presented to those who have shown the best customer service skills throughout the month. I was thrilled and honored to be recognized twice with this award. This internship led to a job offer with Enterprise, which I gladly accepted. I had fun working with my coworkers and I am very excited to be a part of their team!

Internship Success - Steven Valdez

Steven Valdez

Life Changing Experience Interning at Westinghouse

Westinghouse Electric Company provides fuel, services, technology, plant design, and equipment for the commercial nuclear electric power industry. Owned and operated by the Toshiba Corporation, Westinghouse's world headquarters is located in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.

My internship with Westinghouse was at their world headquarters in Pennsylvania. My workspace location was alongside executives, lawyers, accountants, financial managers, and other top-level business personnel which provided me with many unique opportunities. This allowed me to pull back the curtain as an intern and look beyond the United States borders into the growing international marketplaces like China and India. I experienced not only an internationally run company's corporate culture, but also first-hand efforts that go into developing relationships with foreign government regulatory agencies and utility companies.

I spent the majority of my time at the company serving Internal Audit (IA), General Accounting (GAC), and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). Each offered unique challenges that required me to utilize knowledge learned in every one of my College of Business and Economics courses to date and required diligent research to find solutions to completely new material I hadn't studied. Most notably was the soft skills taught by Professor Charles White in his Management 360 course, which gave me the business acumen to interact effectively with senior vice president level executives and those that reported directly to them.

Over the course of the summer, I worked on two major projects, each with its own challenges. Within the Internal Audit Department, I designed, created, and implemented an advanced spreadsheet tool that streamlined information in the JSOX testing process that would be used to report to the parent company, Toshiba Corporation. It saved thousands of estimated employee hours and increased accuracy of the information to 100% upon completion. Within the Enterprise Risk Management Department, I analyzed data relating to the risk the company faced on an international level. Through this project, I created an advanced analytical tool that pinpointed new trends in the data that was used by senior executives to make a decision to altering the focus of the risk assessment.

Westinghouse has a culture that welcomes questions and students who are enthusiastic to learn about the business. During my internship, I met and spoke with senior managers ranging from human resources to engineering. Each one took the time to teach me about the company and mentioned how refreshing it was to have a student who values an internship by going beyond the duties assigned to them. Many put me in contact with associates at other companies that had answers to the questions I was seeking. All of the auditors I worked with provided insights into different fields of accounting and encouraged me to ask questions. This internship was life changing because it provided me with a once in a life-time, hands-on experience that I would not have gained anywhere else. Over the course of my internship, I enjoyed working alongside brilliant professionals who were as motivated and driven as I was to provide value to the Westinghouse Electric Company.

Our newsletter is designed to keep our internship partner companies, friends, faculty and students informed of the latest happenings in the McGaughy Internship & Professional Development Center. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.